Postcron – Social Media Marketing Blog and Digital Marketing Bloghttps://postcron.com/en/blog
Wed, 11 Sep 2019 20:15:01 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.4Why Real Instagram Followers Matter and Where to Find Themhttps://postcron.com/en/blog/find-instagram-followers/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/find-instagram-followers/#respondMon, 27 May 2019 20:18:32 +0000https://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=6074Did you know more than 80% of accounts on Instagram follow a business? That alone should tempt you to see how Instagram can work for your company. But success on Instagram requires more than just pictures—you also need to connect your activity to a business goal, and you need to attract the right people to

]]>Did you know more than 80% of accounts on Instagram follow a business? That alone should tempt you to see how Instagram can work for your company. But success on Instagram requires more than just pictures—you also need to connect your activity to a business goal, and you need to attract the right people to engage with.

You might have heard about people who gained thousands of followers in just a few days. The sad truth is that not all those followers are real—some people buy followers or use automated processes to exaggerate how much reach or influence they have. If you’re using Instagram for business, fake followers won’t help you for one simple reason: they will never turn into real customers.

To grow your bottom line with Instagram, you want to build a following made up of real people with interests that are genuinely connected to your business. To do this, you need to do two things: First, give people a reason to follow you, and then connect with the right people. Keep on reading to learn how you can do both.

Create quality content that will attract real Instagram followers

Before you pick up your camera, you need to think about what you want to get from your Instagram account. If you know what you’re trying to achieve, then you can set yourself up for success and measure your progress.

But before we do that, you should make sure that your Instagram profile and bio are complete. Check out Neil Patel’s advice on how to do this well:

Know what you want to achieve

Let’s get back to goals. For your business to be successful on Instagram, you should limit your goals to just one or two, but make them specific. Here are some examples of how to frame your company’s Instagram goal: “My company is using Instagram to:

Increase traffic on my website by 20%

Gain 300 new email subscribers per month

Increase product sales by 15%, or

Get 150 pre-orders for our new widget.”

Once you know what your goals are, you can think about what kind of content will support those goals. In other words, what kinds of photos should you post? If your content is too random, people won’t find value in following you. But if your content is strategic, you will attract followers who can help you grow your business.

Use pictures to tell your story

The easiest place to start is with pictures of people, which bring a personal touch to your business. The trick is to link the photos that you post to your goal. By matching these two things together, your photos will tell your followers a visual story that conveys the message you want them to take away. If your goal is to recruit new employees, you could post people-centred photos that show happy employees in action. If your goal is to increase sales, you could share photos of people using your products.

You could also opt for product-focused photos. For example, if your goal is to boost sales by piquing interest in the technical specs of your product, you could post behind-the-scenes photos of your manufacturing processes or the tools that you use in your work.

You can also use text-based images to share key messages. Quotes are a huge favourite. So if your goal is to inspire loyalty or demonstrate credibility, you could share inspirational quotes that align with your brand, customer testimonials, or mind-blowing statistics.

Aim to post at least one or two photos each day, and if you can, at least one video.

Regardless of what type of photos you decide to share, original photos are essential. As a photo-sharing platform, people on Instagram expect your posts to be original, not recycled stock photography.

Project a cohesive image

Just like with your content strategy, you also need visual consistency in what you share to give your content a cohesive look that makes your brand look professional. Test out Instagram’s photo filters to enhance the photos you take. If you find a filter that you like, use it regularly to give your posts a polished image.

Likewise, consider using the same colour scheme and font for quotes, or having your employees pose in a similar way, or always featuring the same prop or logo in your photos. All of these are ways to make your brand memorable to your followers—pick one or two that feel right for your brand and test them out.

Make captions count

Once you have a photo to share, you need a caption. Be descriptive and engaging, and be sure to put the best information first so that it’s immediately visible in your followers’ feed.

Hashtags are also critical, even more so on Instagram than on Twitter or Facebook, and you need to use them a bit differently. Think of hashtags as a catalog system for people you haven’t engaged with yet. What would they search for if they were seeking content like yours? Put yourself in their shoes and come up with a list of relevant hashtags that will make your content easy for them to discover.

Hack for hashtags

Once you have some ideas, search for them on Instagram. Take note of what other hashtags are used with them and consider whether they are relevant to you. As always, specific is better. General hashtags might have broad reach, but you likely won’t reach your target audience. Your goal is to be discoverable by the right people, not just any people. Once you have a list, record them in a document or spreadsheet for future reference.

How many hashtags should you use? Between 5 and 15 seems to work best. Want to stand out from the crowd a little bit more? Put the hashtags in a comment instead of directly with the photo. This approach makes your caption easier to read without compromising users’ ability to find you.

As well as hashtags, you should also use Instagram’s geolocation feature. This is especially important for bricks-and-mortar businesses where you want people to visit your physical location.

Now that you have great content, you can start to attract more quality followers.

Find your followers

This is where the magic happens. You don’t need to wait for relevant people to find you—you can go find them! Where do your ideal followers hang out? Check out the accounts of your competitors and other people in your industry. Who follows them? Click on the “followers” button to find out. Don’t be shy—follow them! Many of them will follow you back.

You can take this one step further. Remember when we were searching for hashtags? You can do that again, but this time take a closer look at some of the top posts that come up in your search results and the accounts that posted them. Based on their posts and their bio, do they have interests that are similar to yours? Would their followers potentially be interested in your content? Click on followers, and have a look at who they are. Follow them as well! As before, many will follow you back.

Collaborate with influencers

Influencers are typically Instagram users in your niche who enjoy a huge following of real users. Collaborating with influencers can be a very profitable way to build real followers quickly. This is because these influencers have already done the hard work of bringing together a targeted following in one place. Working with them can help spread the word about your account to this group. There are a number of ways to collaborate with influencers. While paying for a brand mention is the easiest and the most common strategy, this may be expensive. You can also seek a shout out in exchange for promoting the influencer’s website from your blog. Alternatively, you may share free goodies or sample products for review in exchange for them spreading the word about you. Regardless of what influencer marketing strategy you choose, make sure that you follow the FTC guidelines with respect to disclosure and liability issues.

Real Instagram followers want you to be genuine and engage

Instagram sets limits on how many accounts you can follow each day to protect users from inappropriate behavior. However, if you regularly post quality content and dedicate just a few minutes several times each day to following others, the number of followers you attract will continue to grow without raising flags because you’re being thoughtful and deliberate in your approach. And the effort is worth it because the people who follow you back are doing so because they have a genuine interest in your brand.

Once you start to follow more people (and have them follow you back), you also want to be active in the community. Scan through your feed and “like” the photos that catch your attention, and comment on the ones you love. This engagement will reap rewards—the more you reach out, the more people will come to you.

Monitor your progress

How do you measure success? Keep track of the key stats that matter to you. But remember: this is also a long-term investment. You won’t know what’s working unless you give it time to succeed. Here are some metrics to consider tracking:

How many unique visitors are going from Instagram to your website?

How many new followers have you gained?

How much engagement are you generating (e.g., likes and comments)? Are some hashtags attracting more than others?

The most important thing is to remember that success doesn’t come overnight, but that with the right effort, you will gain real followers that help your business reap long-term dividends.

]]>https://postcron.com/en/blog/find-instagram-followers/feed/0Top 5 Best Ways to Engage Your Audience in 2019https://postcron.com/en/blog/top-5-best-ways-to-engage-your-audience/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/top-5-best-ways-to-engage-your-audience/#respondWed, 20 Mar 2019 15:47:16 +0000https://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=6833Whether you’re looking to nurture your relationship with the “unreachable” gatekeeper at a top organization or turn your current customers into long term loyal customers, your target audience is made up of individuals with their own agenda online. Your goal is to capture their attention and engage your audience. They are not waiting around for

Whether you’re looking to nurture your relationship with the “unreachable” gatekeeper at a top organization or turn your current customers into long term loyal customers, your target audience is made up of individuals with their own agenda online. Your goal is to capture their attention and engage your audience.

They are not waiting around for your brand to tap them on the shoulder so they can ask where to sign up, what’s the next step, or find the next product they love themselves.

They are moving about on their own path online, looking for the next best solution to their problem or answer their question.

It’s your job to be there with the answer and solution when and where they are and to be consistent in engaging them. Knowing how, where, what time, and in what way to engage with your audience is the key to building relationships and awareness that pay off for your brand.

Here are the top five best ways to engage your audience in 2019:

Answer their top questions with interesting content:

Whether you’re a B2B or B2C, your customers are online searching for a solution to their problems or an answer to their top questions. Your goal in engaging your audience should be to position your brand to answer their question or provide a solution to a problem. It takes 6-8 touches with your brand to create a viable sales lead. Engaging your audience is key to keeping them on board your sales process and speeding up their actions. For example, if your target audience is marketing agencies, you want to be creating content that answers their top questions.

Hubspot, Coschedule, and Mailchimp have done a fantastic job of creating content that targets, engages, and supports marketing agencies in order to build brand authority and a relationship with these (potential) customers. They focus on creating and distributing content that is written specifically to help their target customers. Their topics are niche, focused, and highly searched by their target audiences. They write from a purely helpful and valuable perfective, truly engaging their audiences and making subscribing to their brand truly worth it.

Use tools like SpyFu, SEMrush, and Google Trends to do research on the topics and keywords your target audience are looking up and what your competitors are doing. Use this data to organize a consistent content calendar to build up engaging content.

A trick to try out: Literally answer your target audience’s top questions on Quora. Quora is a great place to source topics to write about in various industries and see exactly what people are most curious about in terms of your area of expertise. You can use Quora answers and questions to discover hot topic your audience is interested in and create content around those insights. Quora answers also rank high on Google and get high amounts of organic engagement.

Host webinars for your leads and potential clients:

Position your brand as the experts in your niche and provide an even higher level of value for your leads, potential customers, and current customers. Webinars have become extremely popular as more people are online to learn and educate themselves through video-based courses. Webinars are a great way to engage your audience, gain their trust, and build your brand’s authority in your space. The best webinar topics are topics generally related with your product but not entirely based in your product so you are providing value to leads and customers without it feeling too forced. A good practice is to provide a short product demo at the end to familiarize them with your product and demonstrate clearly how your product can help solve their problem.

A great tool for hosting webinars that is quite popular and many people are familiar with is Zoom. Zoom is not incredibly expensive and is super easy to get set up with all the functionality you want like screen sharing and chat during your webinar. Another option growing in popularity is Livestorm which provides great analytics and email coordination.

The biggest hurdle is getting people actually signed up for your webinars. You want them to be branded but not obnoxiously “sales-y”. You want to reach them with an offer to learn something really valuable to them where they are searching online. Use Facebook and LinkedIn ads with targeting to reach your target. Use an email signup with an automated sequence of emails leading up to keep those interested engaged.

Continue offering value via email:

Once someone is on your site, the chance of them coming back in the future is very slim. You want to make it a priority to get their email so you can continue to engage them in the future. Email is still the number one way to re-engage your target audience. 77% of people prefer to get promotional messages via email. Email is still where you want to consistently provide valuable content and offers to keep your audience engaged. Email automations and segmentation is a huge development in this. Instead of sending mass emails to everyone once every so often, you can be targeted, automated, and personalized to better engage your audience. You can send specific offers and content to different segments based on demographics, interests, and previous engagement. Mailchimp can help you set up lists, segmenting, and beautiful campaigns to target and engage your audience. Other email management options include

ActiveCampaign which is really big on segmenting and automation. There are plenty of triggers and segmentation options you can use to really nurture those interested. Another option even more focused is Hubspot which is more CRM-based where you can manage email flows and track your leads’ sign ups and actions with even more detail.

Keep them in the loop with your updates and push notifications:

When your target audience lands on your site, they should be engaged right away with updates and interesting content. On average, you have about seven seconds to engage them or miss out on an opportunity to every again. You want to make sure that your most interesting content, offers, news, etc. is visible for both new and returning users. Using a notification center like Beamer that blends in with your site interface is the best way to share updates and engage your current customers. Beamer is a notification center and changelog that lets you send announcements to users and site visitors for important updates, new features, latest products, special offers and more. You can share updates directly on your site so announcements are received in context and users can immediately interact with your site or app. You can also add photos, videos, and GIFs to your updates to make them more engaging.

To reach your audience off your site and off your app, you can use push notifications to bring your audience back when you share an interesting update. Just show users a simple opt-in the first time they login or visit your site. Once users opt-in they will be sent a web push notification any time you publish an update even if they aren’t currently on your site. This is a great way to bring your users back and reduce churn.

Ask for your audience’s feedback and start a conversation:

If you want to know more about your audience and what they want, ask them! People are much more comfortable sharing their opinions and thoughts online thanks to social media. It’s a great way to engage your audience. Ask them what they would like to know about, their biggest challenges, what they wish they had. It’s the best way to determine what you should create, what kind of questions and concerns you should be addressing, and what kind of content you should put out to better engage your audience. A few effective ways you can do this is via social media (many people provide feedback via Twitter with brands), through your email (send surveys), and on your site. You can embed tools like Typeform to create engaging quizzes and surveys via email and on your site.

Have a presence on social media:

As a result of social media, people online now are used to engaging in a social and communal way. Communication and general activity online is now much less secular. We are online to connect with the world and share knowledge. Engage with them literally where they are already constantly engaging: social media. Make sure your brand is active and sharing engaging content where your target audience is on social media. Use your content schedule to regularly create super visual, useful, and engaging content for your social media platforms. If you don’t have a designer on hand, ArtStudio can help you put together nice graphics in no time. Post consistently and efficiently with Postcron across all your social media platforms. Scheduling posts ahead of time helps you and your team save time, be consistent, and have a more professional, polished presence on social media. Postcron posts automatically across your social platforms, allowing you to plan far in advance by uploading up to 1000 posts, pins, and tweets from Excel or Google Docs files. In Postcron, you can also brand your content with your logo, saving you editing time and adding a layer of professionalism. It makes managing social media incredibly easy and organized.

To get in front of your target audience and expand your influence, work with social media influencers in your niche. Influencers have organic followings that are normally highly engaged. You can engage, increase brand awareness, and gain credibility with your target audience with support from influencers. Some examples of working with influencers are guest posting, interviews and podcasts, and sponsored content.

Catching and keeping your audience’s attention on your site and then finding a way to engage them off your site is key to growing your brand’s influence, converting, and creating a loyal customer base.

]]>https://postcron.com/en/blog/top-5-best-ways-to-engage-your-audience/feed/0Introducing ArtStudio! The Tool That Creates High Impact Images For Your Social Networkshttps://postcron.com/en/blog/postcron-artstudio/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/postcron-artstudio/#respondThu, 13 Dec 2018 14:22:51 +0000http://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=4064At Postcron, we are very happy to announce the launch of ArtStudio! A new tool that allows you to design the best posts for your social networks. Our main goal is to help anyone that works in the Social Media field to save time managing their social networks, which also means generating great content for posting.

At Postcron, we are very happy to announce the launch of ArtStudio! A new tool that allows you to design the best posts for your social networks.

Our main goal is to help anyone that works in the Social Media field to save timemanaging their social networks, which also means generating great content for posting.

Starting today, you can explore the potential of image sharing by designing your content with ArtStudio for free!

Do you want to create a new design from scratch?

To create a new design, you first need to select the format you want (Youtube cover, Facebook ad, Twitter posts etc), and ArtStudio will show you the exact size for that.

You will be able to choose from hundreds of different templates and edit them according to your personal taste and goals. You can change the wording, colors, drawings and everything your imagination can come up with!

How to create a design from scratch, step by step:1- On Postcron, click at the ArtStudio icon2- Select the format you want for your design, depending on the type of image you want to create.3- You can choose a template to edit from, and create your own design.

4- Once you are happy with your design, you can save it.5- Click “Use this design”, which will redirect you to Postcron, so you can schedule it as a post.

Do you want to edit an existing image?

If you already have an image you want to share, but it doesn’t have the recommended size for a certain social network, or if you simply think that something is missing, use ArtStudio to add wording, filters, elements, and anything you need to generate a bigger impact on your audience!

How to edit an image in seconds, step by step:

1- Upload an image to Postcron.2- Click on the ArtStudio icon on the image to open the editor.3- Select the format you want, and edit the elements, texts, colors, etc!4- Once you are happy with your design, click on “Use this design” button, which will redirect you back to Postcron, so you can schedule it to be posted.

And it’s not over yet!

There are many other reasons for using ArtStudio to make youget the most out of your social networks:

1- Find the exact size for each type of post and social network.
2- Find the best templates to create your posts.
3- Save and Organize all your designs in one place.
4. Share your editable designs with your team.
5- Explore other user’s designs.

1- Find the exact size for each type of design.

In order to get your audience’s attention, it’s very important that the content you share, in each social network, is compatible with the recommended sizes and measures.

Want to know the ideal size for an Instagram post? What are the exact dimensions for a YouTube cover? The measures for an Instagram story?We put together a guide where you will find all the sizes and dimensions for your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, Whatsapp, LinkedIn, and Pinterest designs.Find a design or template that suits your goals, and use it to create a professional design!

2- Find the best templates for your posts

We all know that there can never be enough time to spend on creating our Social Media images. With that in mind, we decided to offer you hundreds of templates for you to edit in a single click! You can change texts, colors and everything that you feel that needs to be edited.

All you need to know is the kind of design you want to create and choose the one that suits you best! Want to create brochures? Custom greeting cards? Discounts and Promos? Find all of it on ArtStudio!

You can also use other user’s designs (as long as they make it “public”) and use it on your own posts. This way, you can also help others with your own work!

3- Save and Organize all your designs in one place

With ArtStudio, you can use folders to organize all your designs in one place, in a practical, efficient and safe way.That way, the designs you create and edit will always be available, and ready to be reused whenever you need them!If you want to collaborate with other creators by allowing them to use your designs, you can save them as “public”, and you can also save them as private, if you want to be the only one with access to your creations.

4- Share your editable designs with your team

Teamwork should be done in the most efficient and productive way possible in order to save time and effort. Your ArtStudio designs are always editable, whichwill change the way your team works, because all team members will have access to the files from they own computers and from everywhere.

]]>https://postcron.com/en/blog/postcron-artstudio/feed/0How to customize your Instagram Highlights: Strategies + Toolshttps://postcron.com/en/blog/how-to-customize-your-instagram-highlights/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/how-to-customize-your-instagram-highlights/#respondWed, 29 Aug 2018 15:55:45 +0000https://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=6711Do you use Instagram Highlights? They are the Stories you see right below the profile information. If you want to organize your content, and make sure what’s most important stands out. Then, Highlights is the best option for you! Take the example of this toy store in Spain: Instagram Highlights work as a collection or a menu of the

]]>Do you use Instagram Highlights? They are the Stories you see right below the profile information. If you want to organize your content, and make sure what’s most important stands out. Then, Highlights is the best option for you!

Take the example of this toy store in Spain:

Instagram Highlights work as a collection or a menu of the Stories you want to always be visible to your followers. You can add a name that describes its content, as well as a cover image. Do you think these highlighted stories are clean and attractive enough to catch your followers’ attention?

Customizing your Instagram Highlights cover photos might not seem like a priority, but it’s actually super important to build your brand with it own style and consistency. It’s also a good way to avoid confusion and to optimize the disposition of your content. So, in this article we will show you how to customize your covers, covering some strategies and tools. Let’s get started!

What are Instagram Highlights features?

Before you customize them, you need to know what this feature has to offer. You probably already know that a story only lasts 24 hours. By highlighting a story, it will no longer be available for only 24 hours, but for as long as you want, and you can even label it.

But ATTENTION! The name or title can only be up to 15 characters long. It is important to note that if you want the title to be fully displayed, it is best that you make it approximately 10 characters long.

As we can see in the example above, the title of the highlight “Vintage S …” was cut in half as it exceeded the visible characters Instagram displays . It’s always recommended that you keep the title’s length under the10 characters limitations to make sure your followers don’t miss anything.

And what about the cover? In this case, Instagram automatically uses the image of the first Highlighted Story, which is not recommended by several factors: Are they really standing out? Do they match the brand style? Does it look more organized?

We took the example above from the blog Social Media Examiner, and just like they explain in the article, these highlighted images are lost in the profile, they do not attract attention or stand out. They don’t even build a brand identity.

On the other hand, in the following example, we can see a clear example of what we should achieve with Instagram Highlights. This is a profile of a professional photographer.

Short and simple names. The same color on each cover, and the same style which is according to the personal brand. This is what we should think about when we want to customize our Highlights.

Let’s look at another example:

Look closely at this profile. The covers match the style of the brand. The reason? First of all, because it is an Argentine company that manufactures ceramic products with a singular aesthetic. This same aesthetic is represented in each story.

Some of the Highlights are related to the manufacturing process, and others with the product photos. Obviously, some adjustments could be made to make them even more organized, but the idea of using an icon as a name seems accurate for a brand like this.

Generally, it is necessary to name the highlight, but it will always depend on the brand and also the type of product. However, anything related to an artistic side has a greater creative gap.

Let’s see how to make your covers and customize your Highlights!

#Draw Attractive Covers for your Instagram Featured Stories

You can create similar covers, always respecting the same elements, like color, typography, image, icon, logo etc. Or you can also use different covers by adding some element in common.

In the following example, the covers are the same and match the color and logo of the profile.

In this other example, the covers use the same background color, changing only the image.

And what tools should you use to design your covers? The fastest and easiest way is to use online apps like Artstudio, you can access them through your mobile phone. Of course, if you are used to more resourceful tools such as Photoshop or Illustrator, you can definitely use them as well.

One crucial point: the size should be 1080 x 1920 pixels. In Artstudio you can take advantage of the Instagram Stories template, which can be quite useful!

However, these are not all the options! On Instagram itself, when creating a story, it is possible to design a cover image. All you have to do is use Instagram as a drawing tool, and imagine how you want your cover.

As we already know, Instagram has typography options, image filters, stickers etc. But this is not the most recommended option. It is best that you useArtstudiofor a simple reason: you have a greater scope for action.

In this video of a Social Media expert, you’ll see the creation process from scratch.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CREATING THE LAYERS

At least in the beginning, the best option is to make a simple drawing. That means putting as few elements as possible.

Center the text, logo, icon, or any other element you use.

Add texts that clarify the content of the Highlight Story. If you have a name that does not allow you to extend, then put some data on the cover that will let people know what Story is about.

How to add your drawings to the Instagram Highlight Stories?

Now you’ve made your cover. Already saved it on your phone or computer, it’s time to put it in your Highlight. It’s very simple!

Next, highlight the cover story. Just press the heart icon with the “highlight” label.

You now have the option to create a new featured story or select an existing one. What you will do next is put this cover in the option you choose.

If it is an existing story, what you will do is an update of your cover. In the Highlight, which you want to update, go to the “Highlight” icon and then the three dots that appear in the lower right corner.

You have 3 options: edit cover, rename the Highlight or delete the ones you no longer want to be displayed.

Creating custom covers for your Instagram Highlight Stories allows your most valuable content to always be available in your Instagram profile. And also, itmakes it easier for your followers to navigate through your content and unifies the style of the brand.

All this, at first glance, seems insignificant, but it becomes a powerful tool for any business or company. The user experience on Instagram becomes somewhat deeper, and it gives them a closer look at your brand’s proposal.

Tell us: Do you use Highlights? How has your experience been so far? Do you get better results? What tools do you use?

]]>https://postcron.com/en/blog/how-to-customize-your-instagram-highlights/feed/0How to connect your Facebook Group to Postcron (Step by Step guide)https://postcron.com/en/blog/update-connect-facebook-group/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/update-connect-facebook-group/#respondWed, 01 Aug 2018 20:54:12 +0000https://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=6688Due to the updates on Facebook’s API privacy policy on August 2018, in order to connect a Facebook Group to your Postcron account, you need to add the Postcron App to the group first. We’ll show you how to do it step-by-step. If you are the group’s admin, you can do it yourself. If you are

Due to the updates on Facebook’s API privacy policy on August 2018, in order to connect a Facebook Group to your Postcron account, you need to add the Postcron App to the group first.

We’ll show you how to do it step-by-step.

If you are the group’s admin, you can do it yourself.

If you are NOT the group’s admin, you’ll need to contact the admin to add it (It’s quite simple!)

Therefore, you DON’T necessarily need to be the group’s admin, but you DO need to have the Postcron App added to the group you want to connect to Postcron.

Step-by-Step: How to connect your Facebook Group

Connecting Facebook Groups requires an additional step of adding the Postcron app within your Group’s settings on Facebook itself. We’ve found the quickest way is to first log into your Facebook Profile that has the required permissions. Here are all the steps you’ll need to follow:

Log into your personal Facebook Profile that has the required permissions on Facebook.

]]>https://postcron.com/en/blog/update-connect-facebook-group/feed/0Show What You Mean on Social Media: Say It With Emojishttps://postcron.com/en/blog/emojis-social-media/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/emojis-social-media/#respondFri, 06 Jul 2018 17:29:22 +0000https://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=6648Love them or hate them, emojis have infiltrated our digital world. They’ve become such a common part of online communication that Oxford Dictionaries selected the “tears of joy” emoji 😂 as its Word of the Year for 2015. That same year, the Emogi Research team found that 92 percent of people online use emojis. Just how popular are they? In 2017,

Although research also shows that people and brands use emojis differently, the bottom line is that emojis are more than a passing fad. If you’re not using them in your social media posts, there are some compelling reasons to start. If you already use emojis in your digital marketing, we have some tips to help you avoid common pitfalls.

How to try it

The next time you post on Facebook, think about the message and feeling you want to convey, and add an emoji to help you communicate it. Monitor which posts perform best, and build on that to boost your engagement even further.

Once you know what your followers like, you can develop more creative campaigns, like the ones described in this short video by Likeable Media.

Top tip: Use them at the right time

Emojis are best suited to upbeat or positive posts. Even though emojis are widely used, they still carry a hint of novelty, which isn’t a good fit for serious topics.

Reason #2: Bring a human touch to your posts

Emojis resonate with people because they give feeling to our words. And as we described in our post about how to be social on social media, the key to success on social media is behaving like an authentic human. Use emojis to add a personal touch to your posts and replies. Not sure where to start? Facebook compiled this list of top emojis for World Emoji Day in 2017.

Emojis can also help minimize the risk of misunderstandings because many of them are a substitute for facial expressions. This visual cue can make a huge difference in a short text-based message.

How to try it

Try incorporating emojis in your Instagram comments and hashtags to show excitement and happiness. Also, incorporate them into replies as a way to show your human response to what you’re seeing.

Top tip: Use emojis deliberately, not haphazardly

Like all social media activity, our interactions need to be genuine, or they lose meaning. Don’t overdo it. Use emojis in your posts when it makes sense, and choose them carefully.

Reason #3: Say more with less

On platforms like Twitter, where every character counts, emojis can help you say more with less. A single well-chosen emoji can help convey feelings and save valuable space. This also matters when it comes to storytelling on social media, where short and sweet is best.

How to try it

Use emojis in your social media posts to set the tone, and use the remaining text to say something with more substance. Once you get the hang of that, look for emojis that can help you communicate your company’s message. There are plenty to choose from — as of June 2018, there are 2,823 emojis available to use, including 157 new ones that were added in 2018.

Get Started

Ready to start using emojis? On most iOS and Android mobile devices, emojis are already enabled on your keyboard.

From your iOS desktop, place your cursor where you want to type, and click Command + Control + Spacebar (or Command + Option + T if you use OS X 10.7 or 10.8) and a pop-up window will appear where you can pick your emoji. To access them on Windows 8 or later, open thetouch keyboard from either the taskbar or the tools menu.

Do you use emojis in your social media posts? Tell us about your experience in the comments below!

]]>https://postcron.com/en/blog/emojis-social-media/feed/0Hot news from Instagram: Introducing IGTVhttps://postcron.com/en/blog/instagram-igtv/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/instagram-igtv/#respondFri, 22 Jun 2018 18:56:11 +0000https://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=6618Instagram is taking video to a new level with IGTV, a new standalone app for long-form vertical videos. IGTV builds on the success of Instagram Stories and other video features, which have helped Instagram grow to over a billion monthly active users. Here’s a summary of how IGTV works and tips on how to use it.

Instagram is taking video to a new level with IGTV, a new standalone app for long-form vertical videos. IGTV builds on the success of Instagram Stories and other video features, which have helped Instagram grow to over a billion monthly active users. Here’s a summary of how IGTV works and tips on how to use it.

IGTV adapts television for a mobile generation

Touted as competition for YouTube, IGTV offers a new way for creators to deliver more in-depth content. Previously, videos on Instagram needed to be 60 seconds or less. That meant users needed to break up long videos into shorter segments and share them in multiple-image posts, as we described in our article on Instagram carousel posts. On IGTV, creators can share videos between 15 seconds and 10 minutes long. Select users — including National Geographic — can post videos up to an hour long.

In addition to the new app, which is being rolled out over the next few weeks, long-form vertical video is also available to all Instagram users. Just tap on the tab in the top right corner of the Instagram app.

Like regular television, video will start to play as soon as you open the app. And with IGTV, creators will be the channels. This means if you follow someone who creates content for IGTV, their channel will be available for you to watch. Users can swipe up to search for more content, swapping between “For You,” “Following,” “Popular,” and “Continue Watching.”

You can create your own channel on IGTV in the app, which uses the same privacy settings as your regular Instagram account. After you create your channel, you can upload pre-recorded videos from the mobile app or from your computer’s web browser. As you populate your channel, the videos will show up as thumbnail images at the bottom of the screen.

You can use Instagram’s insights to see the audience retention graph and the average percent watched by viewers. Other metrics, like the number of likes and views, will be visible for everyone, just like regular Instagram feed.

From our CEO Kevin Systrom (instagram.com/kevin)“Today, we have two big announcements to share. First, Instagram is now a global community of one billion! Since our launch in 2010, we’ve watched with amazement as the community has flourished and grown. This is a major accomplishment — so from all of us at Instagram, thank you!Second, we’re announcing our most exciting feature to date: IGTV, a new app for watching long-form, vertical video from your favorite Instagram creators, like LaurDIY (instagram.com/laurdiy) posting her newest project to King Bach (instagram.com/kingbach) sharing his latest comedy skit. While there’s a stand-alone IGTV app, you’ll also be able to watch from within the Instagram app so the entire community of one billion can use it from the very start.IGTV is different in a few ways. First, it’s built for how you actually use your phone, so videos are full screen and vertical. Also, unlike on Instagram, videos aren’t limited to one minute. Instead, each video can be up to an hour long.We strived to make it simple, too. Just like turning on the TV, IGTV starts playing as soon as you open the app. You don’t have to search to start watching content from people you already follow on Instagram and others you might like based on your interests. You can swipe up to discover more — switch between “For You,” “Following,” “Popular” and “Continue Watching.” You can also like, comment and send videos to friends in Direct.Also like TV, IGTV has channels. But, in IGTV, the creators are the channels. When you follow a creator on Instagram, their IGTV channel will show up for you to watch. Anyone can be a creator — you can upload your own IGTV videos in the app or on the web to start your own channel.Instagram has always been a place to connect with the people who inspire, educate and entertain you every day. With your help, IGTV begins a new chapter of video on Instagram. We hope it brings you closer to the people and things you love.”IGTV will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks on iOS and Android.

IGTV reflects the changing taste in video

Instagram’s move to long-form video is no surprise. As traditional TV viewing declines, the popularity of social media video continues to grow. Facebook, which owns Instagram, started experimenting with video formats last year. Its research showed that vertical video outperformed horizontal and square video. It also showed that people preferred large format vertical video, and they were more likely to spend time watching large vertical video with the sound on.

And, as Tech Crunch reported before the official IGTV launch, Instagram’s approach to curating recommendations will make it easy for users to find quality content. This can be hard to do on YouTube, creating an opportunity for Instagram to fill a gap in the market.

]]>https://postcron.com/en/blog/instagram-igtv/feed/0How to Be Social on Social Media: Behave Like a Real Humanhttps://postcron.com/en/blog/being-social-online/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/being-social-online/#respondMon, 18 Jun 2018 15:25:22 +0000https://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=6593You’ve heard this advice before: To be successful on social media, you need to be social. But what does being social online look like for a business? In practice, it looks a lot like being social in person. It’s about making genuine human connections with other people by sharing relevant information and adding value. That

You’ve heard this advice before: To be successful on social media, you need to be social. But what does being social online look like for a business? In practice, it looks a lot like being social in person. It’s about making genuine human connections with other people by sharing relevant information and adding value. That takes time, but that’s also exactly why it works. Let’s take a closer look.

How do I put the social into my social media strategy?

Being social online and building your social media following is all about engagement. That starts with having a presence on the social media platforms where your target customers spend their time.

If you want to make new friends in person, you’d go to the places where your ideal companions go, wouldn’t you? It works the same on social media—don’t spend your time on Twitter if your ideal customers are all on Instagram.

Wait a minute, what about content?

The other social media mantra we all know is that “content is king.” There’s no doubt that producing great content still matters. But to effectively use social media to build your business, you need an audience to read your content, and that audience won’t magically appear overnight.

If your reason for being social online is to actively grow your social media following, you can’t passively wait for your audience to show up. Put yourself back in the coffee shop. If you want to meet people, you can’t just sit at a table and expect people to strike up a conversation. You might get lucky and meet a stranger or two just by looking friendly, but it’s unlikely. Likewise, you might gain a handful of followers just by posting great content that people stumble upon, but that’s not a good strategy for growth. To attract more followers, you need to make the first move. And that takes some planning.

Where is everybody?

To increase your chances of meeting people in person, you might attend an event where you expect to find other people who want to connect. In other words, you go where people are hanging out. On social media, you need to find the posts that people are talking about. Luckily, that’s what hashtags are for.

Gary Vaynerchuk developed a fabulous system for using hashtags as a starting point to initiate conversations on social media. In a post about his $1.80 Instagram Strategy, he recommends using the top 10 trending hashtags and finding the nine top performing posts for each hashtag, for a total of 90 posts. Those are the posts he recommends you engage with—or in his words, the ones you want to give your two cents on.

You can search for hashtags on all the major social platforms by using the search bar. Twitter and Instagram also recommend hashtags for you based on your previous posts. And Instagram will suggest additional ideas based on what you search for.

How do I know what to talk about?

If you’re really keen to meet people face-to-face, you need to have something to talk about. In face-to-face interactions, you’re likely to open a conversation with an observation about the event you’re attending. It’s the same on social media. When you find interesting and relevant posts, leave a comment describing what you liked best about the content. If the post asks a question and you have something to contribute to the answer, chime in.

“You don’t have to write a book or say something profound, you just have to engage and interact. That is what it means to be social.” — Gary Vaynerchuk

The key is to be genuine—in person, no one likes a fake compliment. In the online community, we have a different word for it: spam. The comments section isn’t the place to ask for followers or sell your products. Don’t be that person.

When will this translate into more followers?

How long does it take to make a new friend? It depends. Not everyone you meet is going to become your next bestie, but that doesn’t mean you stop trying. Similarly, not every comment you make on social media will turn into followers, but you need to keep engaging. Establishing yourself as a positive and helpful person, both offline and online, is how you build strong relationships that can generate business results.

To build your company’s social media following, the formula for success is quality plus volume. Gary Vaynerchuk‘s method described above uses a built-in a target to accelerate the process. Once you’ve identified the best hashtags to follow, the rest of the work is relatively quick. He suggests you spend two minutes reviewing a post and composing a thoughtful comment, direct message, or a personal post to share the content you’ve discovered. Over 90 posts (nine articles for each of the 10 hashtags), this adds up to three hours, which you can spread throughout a day.

Isn’t three hours a lot?

Three hours a day might feel like a lot of time, but attracting genuine followers in your target market takes time and energy. How much is your time worth? How fast do you want to grow your business? Whether or not you can spare a full three hours is up to you, but remember that building your social media following is a long-term game. If you think of it as a race, it’s a marathon and not a sprint.

No matter how much time you’re able to spend, modeling your online behavior on how you behave in a face-to-face environment is a great way to ensure that your social media presence is authentic. Being authentically human is the best way to put the social into your social media strategy.

What tricks do you use to be authentic and genuine on social media? Let us know in the comments below!

]]>https://postcron.com/en/blog/being-social-online/feed/0How to Boost Your Brand With Instagram Carousel Postshttps://postcron.com/en/blog/instagram-carousel-posts/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/instagram-carousel-posts/#respondMon, 11 Jun 2018 14:02:52 +0000https://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=6526Ever had trouble trying to pick just one photo to share a moment on Instagram? You might have already discovered the value of Instagram carousel posts, which allow you to combine up to 10 photos or videos into a single post. Used properly, carousel posts are a fabulous way for companies to tell a visual

Ever had trouble trying to pick just one photo to share a moment on Instagram? You might have already discovered the value of Instagram carousel posts, which allow you to combine up to 10 photos or videos into a single post. Used properly, carousel posts are a fabulous way for companies to tell a visual story.

One of the biggest benefits of Instagram carousel posts is that you can share more in-depth content without overwhelming your followers’ Instagram feeds. To help you make the best use of Instagram carousel posts, we’ll show you how the feature works, along with creative suggestions and tips to make your carousel posts stand out.

Climb on the carousel

When you open Instagram to select a photo or video to post, you will see a new icon (a set of stacked squares) at the bottom right corner of the photo you’ve selected, as shown below.

When you tap it, you can select up to 10 images or videos from your camera roll, in any order you want. Once you have selected your images, click “next” to apply filters. You can either choose one filter to apply to the whole collection of photos or you can tap each photo to apply a different filter to each one. When you are done with the filters, tap “next” and write your caption like you normally would. With carousel posts, you only need one caption—as well as one location and one set of hashtags—for your collection. Then share your post as usual.

Tip: pay close attention to the order of your photos. Once you publish your carousel post, you can’t go back to alter the order.

When someone first scrolls to your post in their Instagram feed, the top right corner of the first photo will show followers how many photos there are. For example, it will say 1/10. Your post will have also have a series of blue dots underneath it to remind followers they can swipe to scroll through the images.

This short video shows how it works.

Use Instagram carousel posts to tell a visual story

Here are some creative ways you can use multiple-image posts to tell a visual story.

Demonstrate a step-by-step process

Instagram carousel posts are perfect for how-to or tutorial posts. When taking or selecting photos for a tutorial, make sure the photo shows something useful, like the specific way to hold something. For recipes, for example, use photos that show what each step should look like so that people can assess their progress as they follow along.

Show before and after photos

Before-and-after photos are also good candidates for carousel posts. If you’re a service provider, you can demonstrate the quality and impact of your work. A post could be short, with just a few photos (such as before and after photos of a haircut) or it could use all 10 photos to feature a whole project (such as before and after shots of each room in a house).

Zoom in

You can use multiple images to dig deeper into an interesting photo. If your Instagram account is all about travel, take a panoramic or landscape photo of a destination, then use the remaining photos to highlight specific places in the photo in more detail. Likewise, if you have a complicated or intricate product, you could use a carousel post to zoom in on special features or details.

Launch a product

Carousel posts are also a great way to launch new a new product or line of products. For single product launches, you could use a multiple-image post to show your product from different angles or show your product being used in different ways. For a product line, each product can have its own image. This example from Social Media Today shows how you can showcase multiple products.

Promote events

If you’re planning a conference or special event, you don’t have to wait until it’s over to share photos. Use a carousel post to showcase speakers at an upcoming conference or to recognize award winners at your gala dinner. After the event, use Instagram Stories to share your in-the-moment shots.

Break up long videos

Generally, Instagram videos can only be 60 seconds long, which makes carousel posts a great way to share longer-form content. But don’t just break the video into equal segments. Spend some time to do a quality editing job and make sure each video is worth watching on its own, even if that means leaving some footage on the virtual cutting room floor.

Share customer reviews

Want to give your credibility a boost? Instead of relegating your customer testimonials to your website, use a carousel post to share your collection on Instagram too. Make sure each one is worthwhile on its own, not just as part of a group.

Set yourself up for success

To get the most benefit from the Instagram carousel feature, keep these three tips in mind:

Only choose high-quality images

Being able to include multiple images isn’t a reason to lower your standards for Instagram photos. When selecting photos for multiple image posts, apply the same standard you would for single-image posts. That means only choosing high-quality photos. Also, pay special attention to your first image. All of your photos or videos should be good ones, but if your followers aren’t intrigued by the first one they see, you’ll lose the opportunity to show them the rest. Make the first one count.

Remind followers to swipe to see all the images

Even though Instagram gives hints to signal multiple image posts, your followers might not notice. Make sure to include a note in your caption that reminds people to swipe to view all the images. For example, for a how-to post, you could say, “Swipe through the photos to see step-by-step instructions.”

Stay focused

Just because you can post multiple images in a single post doesn’t mean you have to. Each Instagram post you share should be consistent with your social media marketing plan. If you use your Instagram account to showcase your company’s products, then it wouldn’t make sense to use a carousel post to share photos from your company picnic. But if you use Instagram as a tool to recruit new employees, it would be a great idea.

Bottom line: Use this the Instagram carousel feature as a tool to keep your Instagram feed interesting but stay focused on your social media strategy for Instagram.

Are you already using Instagram carousel posts to boost your brand? Tell us how in the comments below! For more information on how to use Instagram to promote your business, check out our blog post on how to attract Instagram followers.

]]>https://postcron.com/en/blog/instagram-carousel-posts/feed/0Six Easy Tips to Attract Facebook Likes Without Spending a Dollarhttps://postcron.com/en/blog/attract-facebook-likes/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/attract-facebook-likes/#respondTue, 05 Jun 2018 16:35:02 +0000https://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=6499With all the latest updates on how Facebook is improving what people see in their news feed, it can be challenging for digital marketers to attract Facebook likes. You might wonder, is Facebook still worth the effort, especially if you don’t have a budget for Facebook ads? The short answer is absolutely. You can still

With all the latest updates on how Facebook is improving what people see in their news feed, it can be challenging for digital marketers to attract Facebook likes. You might wonder, is Facebook still worth the effort, especially if you don’t have a budget for Facebook ads? The short answer is absolutely.

You can still draw fans to your Facebook page to read and like your content. And with some extra effort, you can turn those likes into fans, and then turn those fans into customers. The advantage of attracting fans this way is that they’re more likely to fall into your target market, which means they’re also more likely to turn into customers. Here’s how to start.

1. Optimize your Facebook page

The first step to attracting more Facebook likes is to optimize your Facebook page. That starts with making sure you have completed all the key sections, not just the basics. Make sure you have a high-quality cover photo and profile picture that relate to your brand image. Ideally, these should have a consistent look across all of your social platforms so that you’re easy to recognize online.

Next, be sure to add all of your company’s contact information, including your web address, as well as a street address if you have a physical location that customers can visit. Then, fill in the other sections as much as you can, including the “About” page and the “Services” page, to tell people who you are and what you offer. It’s also a good idea to create a custom URL for your Facebook page. Check out this short video that shows you how.

Investing this effort upfront will make your page easier to find on the web, and it ensures that people get the information they want when people find you on Facebook. For more tips, check out our post on how to optimize engagement on your Facebook page.

The good news is that your online community is bigger than you think. Add a Facebook link to your company’s web page and to other social sites like LinkedIn. Don’t forget to include a Facebook link at the bottom of your e-newsletters and e-mails, and make sure it’s on your business cards. And be bold and ask your other social media followers to join you on Facebook—they just might not have thought about it. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to feel sales-y. Try an occasional tweet with a link to Facebook that says, “Follow us on Facebook too!”

3. Share content your fans—and their friends—want to read

We all know that high-quality content is critical. But it’s equally important to make sure that you share content that your audience wants to read, not just what you want them to read. How do you know what they want? It takes a bit of research, but it’s not too hard. The first place to look is your existing Facebook insights, which can show you which posts have performed the best. Take a cue from what works and start doing more of it.

You can also learn from others. Peek what your competitors are doing on their pages and see what posts are doing well, and consider how you can develop your own unique content around those themes.

When drafting your content, keep in mind that posts with images tend to perform better than text-only posts. Also, remember to post content regularly. Even if you go crazy one Sunday afternoon creating great material, don’t post it all at once! Develop a posting schedule and space them out. Don’t panic—posting regularly doesn’t mean you need to post every day. You decide what “regular” is—whether it’s daily, two or three times a week, weekly, or once a month. When your audience sees that you share new content at regular intervals, they’re more likely to visit your page regularly. And of course, you can use Postcron to easily schedule your Facebook posts.

4. Have human conversations

We also all know that social media is meant to be social, but this can also be easy to forget sometimes. You can put social into practice by proactively starting conversations on your Facebook page and participating in those discussions.

The easiest way to start a conversation is to post a question that asks your fans for their opinion on something. Are you designing a new product package? Post your top two choices and ask your followers which one they prefer. Even better, ask them what they like and don’t like about each one. Or invite fans to share stories or favorite moments related to your brand (and, of course, you should share your own first).

This does two things: It directly invites your fans to interact with you, and it brings a more human voice to your page—both things that generate better results.

5. Invite people to like your page

As your Facebook reach grows, people who don’t follow your page will still see—and hopefully, like—your posts because their friends have engaged with you first. Did you know you can invite people who like your posts to “like” your page? To do this, click on a post that people have engaged with. Then, click on the list of people who have reacted to that post. A new window will pop up with a list, along with a clickable button beside each person’s name that you can click to invite them to like your page.

6. Try video

Virtually all of the major social platforms are expanding the way they use video, and Facebook is no exception. And right now, the Facebook algorithm places a high value on video—especially live broadcasts. If you haven’t tried experimenting with video, now is a great time. How will this help attract likes? The research shows that engagement with video is high; as more people engage with your content, more people will see it.

You can try a Facebook Live video to introduce yourself or tell your company’s story or to host a Question/Answer session with an expert your audience would like to hear from. You could also use live video to launch a new product or service or to give your fans a behind-the-scenes look at how you work.

What tips have you used to attract more Facebook likes? Let us know in the comments below!

]]>https://postcron.com/en/blog/attract-facebook-likes/feed/0Drive Web Traffic by Adding Links in Instagram Storieshttps://postcron.com/en/blog/links-instagram-stories/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/links-instagram-stories/#respondThu, 31 May 2018 12:51:11 +0000https://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=6296 Instagram Stories is a great tool for sharing content that has a short shelf-life, but it has another key advantage that you won’t want to miss: Instagram is starting to let some accounts add clickable links in Instagram Stories. Instagram users have long asked for the ability to add clickable links to posts and comments.

Instagram Stories is a great tool for sharing content that has a short shelf-life, but it has another key advantage that you won’t want to miss: Instagram is starting to let some accounts add clickable links in Instagram Stories.

Instagram users have long asked for the ability to add clickable links to posts and comments. Unfortunately, when this option was originally available to everyone it was a magnet for spam, so that capability was removed. However, Instagram has recently started rolling out new features to some users.

In May 2017, Instagram started allowing verified accounts to include clickable links in Instagram Stories. And now this feature is becoming available to business profiles that have more than 10,000 followers. Keep reading to learn how to add links to your Instagram Stories.

Optimize your Instagram business profile

First, make sure your Instagram account is set up with a business profile. This is important because unless your Instagram account is already verified (which is very difficult to achieve), you need a business profile to add links in Instagram Stories.

Instagram business profiles are linked to your company’s Facebook page. If you don’t have a business Facebook page yet, read our post on how to set up an effective one.

Once your Facebook business page is set up, you can easily switch your Instagram account to a business profile. Tap on the “gear” icon in the top corner, and a new window will pop up. Look for the “switch to business profile” option.

From there, you can follow the instructions to connect to your Facebook page. For more details, have a look at this short video:

Having an Instagram business profile has other advantages too. It gives you access to Instagram Insights, which provides analytics to measure the performance of your Instagram posts and stories. With a business profile, you can also make it easier for people to reach you by adding your contact details. As well, you need a business profile to run Instagram ads (which are managed by Facebook).

How to Post Instagram Stories with links?

Once you choose a photo or video to start your story, tap the hyperlink icon at the top of the screen. This will open a text box where you can add the web address you want people to visit after they view your story.

When deciding which link to add, remember that Instagram allows you to include a link in your bio as well. Don’t be repetitive—use the links in your Instagram Stories to deliver something specific and relevant to your followers, such as a landing page for a special promotion or a blog post that’s directly related to your story. Take care to add value—you don’t want to risk losing a follower because you led them to something they don’t care about.

Upload a picture, and you’ll see the option to choose between posting it as a “Post or Stories”. Once you select to schedule on Stories, you’ll see in your right, the option to add a Link (as in the following example)

Bonus tip!

As you can see in the example, Postcron allows you to share Rich Content too, such as Polls, Questions, Hashtags, Mentions & more. That’s a great way to interact with your Instagram audience and its a great way to increase the number of people who “swipe up”!

Now that you know how to post Instagram Stories with Links (from Instagram and from Postcron), let’s take a look at some other tips to increase the performance of that link!

Tip #1: Include a call-to-action

Even though Instagram will add the “see more” link, you can make it easy for your followers to notice by adding a call-to-action that invites people to follow it. You can use Instagram’s drawing tool or stickers to do this, just like mumbaifoodjunkie did in this example shared by Social Samosa.

A clear call-to-action can exponentially increase the likelihood that your followers will click the link, as shown by these mind-blowing statistics. For the best results, use action-oriented words, such as swipe or click). Also, choose contrasting colors so that it stands out. Be careful though—while you want your call-to-action to be visible, you don’t want it to overpower your story.

Tip #2: Consider Instagram Stories Ads

If you haven’t yet hit 10,000 followers (or even if you have), you can also consider using Instagram Stories Ads, which also allow you to add links.

Instagram Stories Ads were first introduced in March 2017 and they are available to all Instagram accounts with a business profile. Instagram Stories Ads appear in between users’ stories and they allow companies to show full-screen ads to a targeted audience.

You now have six different ad objectives to choose from: reach, video views, conversions, app installs, lead generation, or traffic. This allows you to be very specific about the results you want to achieve with your investment. To learn more about recent changes to Instagram Ads, check out this Tech Crunch article.

Tip #3: Monitor your results

The main reason for adding links to your Instagram stories is to give your followers another way to connect with you. With your Instagram business profile, you can monitor your results using Instagram Insights, including reach, impressions, replies and exits. Insights doesn’t currently track click-throughs on your links, but you can see which posts and stories performed best. If you want to track click-throughs, try using a free URL shortener like Bitly, which can track that for you.

Now that Instagram has reached more than 800 million active monthly users, it’s critical for digital marketers to stay on top of new trends. Do you have questions about how to add links in your Instagram stories? Ask us in the comments below! Have you had success including links in your Instagram Stories? We’d love to hear about them!

]]>https://postcron.com/en/blog/links-instagram-stories/feed/07 Must-Try Social Media Tactics for 2018https://postcron.com/en/blog/social-media-tactics/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/social-media-tactics/#respondTue, 29 May 2018 15:44:46 +0000https://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=6474Are you getting the most out of your social media strategy? As we approach the halfway point of 2018, now is a good time to refresh your strategy with these seven must-try social media tactics for 2018. Why try something new? Because your competitors probably are, which means your social media strategy needs to keep

Are you getting the most out of your social media strategy? As we approach the halfway point of 2018, now is a good time to refresh your strategy with these seven must-try social media tactics for 2018. Why try something new? Because your competitors probably are, which means your social media strategy needs to keep pace. And if your competitors aren’t trying new things, you have a golden opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

Spoiler alert: No matter which social platform is your favorite, video keeps growing. The focus on video isn’t surprising—a recent study by Hubspot found that 53 percent of people want to see more video content. If video isn’t one of your go-to social media tactics, that is an excellent place to begin! Use these tips to help you get started.

Facebook

Facebook continues to be the industry leader in social engagement. Building on news from the Facebook F8 conference, the focus on group engagement remains strong. If you don’t have a Facebook group for your business, check out our post on everything you need to know about the latest news on Facebook groups. If you’re already active with Facebook groups, here are two ideas you can use to increase engagement.

Host a Facebook Watch Party

In August 2017, Facebook introduced Watch, a new platform for shows on Facebook. More recently, Mark Zuckerberg announced Watch Party—a way for Facebook groups to watch videos together. You can build a stronger sense of community in your group by hosting a Watch Party where group members can interact with one another in real time while the video plays.

You can organize a Watch Party around a Facebook Watch show or any other public video. For a quick peek at what a Watch Party looks like, watch this short video of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg explaining how it works.

To host a Watch Party, group moderators post a video in the group, and when the video is playing group members can click on the Watch Party widget on the group page to join the broadcast.

Create Stories for your groups and events

Facebook’s Stories feature, which allows you to post content that disappears after 24 hours, is also available for Facebook groups. This is a great way to engage group members and is especially useful to share photos and video clips from events. You can use this feature to build momentum before an event by sharing behind-the-scenes photos or videos, or during an event to share the experience with people who can’t be there in person. You can also encourage group members to share their own clips from an event in a collaborative story, which can be moderated by a group administrator.

Instagram

Feature your best Instagram Stories with Stories Highlights

Have you ever posted an Instagram story that you were especially proud of? You can maximize the impact of your best Instagram Stories by making them Stories Highlights.

Highlights stay on your profile instead of disappearing like regular Instagram Stories do. To use this feature, go to your profile page and look under the heading “Story Highlights”, then choose the story you want to feature. The added advantage of Stories Highlights is that you can organize them in any order you want, for example, by theme or by date.

Invite guests to live videos

Instagram has been consistently improving its video streaming, which now allows you to invite a guest to your live video. This opens up new possibilities for live videos, such as interviewing experts, doing off-location demonstrations, or bringing together employees in different locations for a company celebration. To use this feature, start your live broadcast as usual by tapping the plus sign on your profile picture in the top left corner, then tapping “live” at the bottom of the screen. Make sure that your guest is watching the live video, and then tap the “add” button in the corner and select your guest. A new window will pop up beside you on the screen for the duration of the video.

Twitter

Be more social

We all know that social media is about being social. That means paying attention to how much we’re engaging with other users’ content. It’s a good idea to regularly take stock of how much you’re sharing and responding to what other people post on Twitter. Chances are good that you could put more effort into replies and retweets. You could go as high as a 50/50 ratio of tweets to replies and shares.

Say it in 280 characters

At the end of 2017, Twitter increased the character limit for tweets from 140 to 280. Are you taking advantage of the extra space? Not every tweet should be a long one, but you should regularly take advantage of the extra space to tell your story. Just make sure to use the space wisely—be as crisp and succinct as you would in 140 characters and include more content in your message. After experimenting with some longer tweets, check your Twitter analytics to see which tweets perform best.

LinkedIn

Experiment with LinkedIn video

LinkedIn has recently introduced native video to its mobile app, which is another way for you to share information with your professional network. A key advantage of LinkedIn video is the information collected by LinkedIn’s insights, which provides valuable information about the people who view your video.

]]>https://postcron.com/en/blog/social-media-tactics/feed/0Sharing is Caring: How to Share Instagram Posts to Your Instagram Storieshttps://postcron.com/en/blog/how-share-instagram-posts/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/how-share-instagram-posts/#respondMon, 21 May 2018 20:22:06 +0000https://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=6451Instagram users have long asked for the ability to share Instagram posts by other people. That feature isn’t available within Instagram yet, but the social media giant recently started testing something close: the ability to share Instagram posts by others to your own Instagram Stories. As the popularity of Instagram Stories increases, this is a great

]]>Instagram users have long asked for the ability to share Instagram posts by other people. That feature isn’t available within Instagram yet, but the social media giant recently started testing something close: the ability to share Instagram posts by others to your own Instagram Stories. As the popularity of Instagram Stories increases, this is a great way to distribute high-quality content and tell your brand’s story in a different way. We’ll review how this feature works and how you can use it effectively as part of your social media strategy.

Check to see if your account has the “Add Post to Your Story” feature

This feature is new and it’s being rolled out slowly. To check if your account has the feature, tap any Instagram post (including one of your own), then tap the paper airplane icon. If you see an option that says “Add Post to Your Story,” that means you have the feature. Even if you don’t have access yet, stay with us to learn how it works and for tips on what to consider before you start adding posts to your Instagram Stories.

Ready? To get started, select the post you want to add, then tap the paper airplane icon to send the post to your Instagram story. This will open a new window that looks similar to your regular Instagram story window but with a few small differences that we’ll describe below.

Edit your Instagram Stories post

When you share a post to your Instagram story, Instagram will add a different colored background, which you can adjust. To change it, tap the pencil icon and choose your new color. Next, tap and hold the current background color of the post to replace it with the new color. This piece by the Social Media Examiner shows exactly how this works. And, of course, you can use Instagram’s regular story features to crop or edit the photo and add embellishments such as stickers, text, and frames.

Right now, unlike Facebook and Twitter, Instagram doesn’t tag the original poster when you share their post to your story. In this case, it shows good social media manners to add a text box to tag the original poster. That way, they will receive a notification that you have shared their post, and you are giving credit where it’s due. Once you’ve done that—along with any other additions you want to make—you upload it just like you would a regular story. To see this in action, check out this short video from TechCrunch.

When you share a post to your Instagram story, people can comment on the story, just like they can for regular stories. They can also interact with the original post by tapping the post in your story, which will take them to the original post on that user’s page.

Know when sharing isn’t caring

Before you start sharing, it’s important to know that Instagram doesn’t tag the original poster when you use this feature. As a result, there are some extra things to think about before you share. Although many users will be happy to have their content shared, if you are a business and want to use customers’ posts to showcase your brand, ask permission first. This is good etiquette and it’s also necessary to comply with Instagram’s Terms of Use. Don’t worry, it doesn’t need to be complicated. Just send a short message like, “We love this! Could you send us a DM? We’d love to share it!” Once you have their confirmation, you can feel comfortable sharing.

Even though this tool is great for sharing content—including yours—there might be cases where you don’t want someone to share your posts to their story. For this reason, Instagram gives you the ability to turn off sharing. Note: you can do this now even if you don’t currently have the ability to share other people’s posts.

You can adjust your privacy settings by clicking on the gear icon. Scroll down to “Allow Others to Reshare.” If the slider for this option is on (shown in blue), people can share your posts. If you want to disable this feature, just tap the slider to turn it off.

Share high-quality posts

Now that we’ve covered the etiquette and the how-to, here are some strategies to put this into practice. Here are five kinds of posts that you can share to your Instagram Stories to complement your social media marketing plan.

Share Instagram posts that show customers using your product or service

If your Instagram followers post photos or videos of them using your product or service, ask their permission to share those posts to your Instagram story. This will add credibility to your brand because the posts are genuine and organic—the very best kind of testimonial!

Share posts with information about local events near you

If your industry or community holds events that would be interesting to your followers, this is a great way to spread the news. Being a source of high-quality information will increase the value you offer to your followers.

Share tips from industry experts

Sharing educational material from thought leaders in your industry is another way you can add value for your audience. Don’t forget to ask for permission first. Bonus: by asking to share their material, they might reciprocate by sharing your material.

Share breaking news that’s relevant to your audience

If you follow industry news, you can be the first to share important developments with your audience. Together with the above strategies, this can increase your audience’s desire to stay connected with you.

Increase the reach of your own Instagram posts

Finally, you can also expand the reach of your own Instagram posts by sharing them to your Instagram Stories. Be selective about which ones you share so that your stories don’t just duplicate your regular feed. Also, be creative! Think about older posts that might be relevant again because of something in the news. Or consider posts that generated a lot of engagement. Before you share it to your Instagram story, ask yourself, “What extra value does this add right now?” If you have a good answer, then share it!

Have you already started to share Instagram posts to your Instagram Stories? Share your experience in the comments below!

]]>https://postcron.com/en/blog/how-share-instagram-posts/feed/0Need-to-Know News from Facebook F8 2018: The Digital Marketer’s Essential Takeawayshttps://postcron.com/en/blog/need-to-know-news-from-facebook-f8-2018/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/need-to-know-news-from-facebook-f8-2018/#respondMon, 14 May 2018 13:15:21 +0000https://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=6430Every year, Facebook hosts an annual conference for its software developers called Facebook F8. Why does this matter to digital marketers? Because the conference offers a sneak preview of what Facebook’s developers are working on. This can help savvy marketers be the first to take advantage of new features and tools. We have compiled this list of

Every year, Facebook hosts an annual conference for its software developers called Facebook F8. Why does this matter to digital marketers? Because the conference offers a sneak preview of what Facebook’s developers are working on. This can help savvy marketers be the first to take advantage of new features and tools. We have compiled this list of need-to-know news from Facebook to help you stay on top of the latest developments.

Remember, Facebook is the company to watch because it’s so much more than the Facebook platform itself. Facebook is a social media giant that also owns Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and countless other technology companies. But don’t worry—you don’t need to study it all. Here’s our recap.

Need-to-Know News About Facebook

CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent time at his keynote outlining the steps his company is taking to address issues with fake news and data privacy. In particular, Facebook is giving users more control over what information Facebook collects and stores.

For video highlights from Zuckerberg’s speech, check out this clip from Digital Trends. Then, stay with us to see what’s most relevant for digital marketers.

Fighting fake news

Facebook’s fight against fake news is focused on three things: spam, fake accounts, and real people who share fake news. Facebook is using artificial intelligence and a team of content reviewers to identify and remove fake accounts. In addition, Facebook is tweaking its algorithm to reduce the amount of spam that shows up in users’ newsfeeds. This will improve the user experience and take away the economic incentive to publish clickbait. And, Facebook is expanding its team of fact-checkers to debunk fake news stories that have gone viral.

For digital marketers, this reinforces the need for high-quality content that informs and engages users.

Returning privacy controls

Facebook is also implementing a new feature called Clear History that will allow users to erase their activity on Facebook in the same way we can delete our browser history. The tool will let users see which external websites send information about them to Facebook. Users will also be able to turn off Facebook’s data collection features and erase any information that Facebook’s analytics tool has learned about them. As Lights, Camera, Live points out, digital marketers who rely solely on Facebook could see their audience size shrink. However, updates to Facebook groups provide new tools that digital marketers can leverage instead.

Focusing on Facebook groups

Facebook is rolling out a new feature in Facebook groups called Watch Party, which will allow you to watch videos with members of your Facebook group. Group admins who launch a Watch Party can also provide live commentary with a picture-in-picture video. This will be a great way to promote real-time engagement as the group watches the video together.

And building on Facebook’s earlier announcement about the value they place on Facebook groups, the company is adding a groups tab to make groups more central to the Facebook experience. The new tab will make it easier for users to participate in all of the groups they belong to. Group admins can also add a new “Join Group” button to their websites to attract more people to their Facebook community. For more information about Facebook groups, review our post about everything you need to know about the latest news.

The digital marketer’s essential takeaway: Be genuine, post high-quality content, and use Facebook groups to engage with your audience.

Need-to-Know News About Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger now has more than 1.3 billion monthly active users, second only to WhatsApp, which Facebook also owns. Messenger’s popularity keeps growing as the company continues to roll out additional features for businesses.

Introducing augmented reality

Next up, Facebook is bringing augmented reality (AR) to the Messenger experience. The feature, which is currently in beta mode, allows companies to use AR to let customers see, customize, and test products. With this new capability, Facebook hopes to make it easier for people to shop online by letting people “try before they buy.” Four companies are participating in the initial launch—ASUS, Kia, Nike, Sephora—but companies interested in using augmented reality in Messenger can sign up on Facebook’s waitlist.

Not ready for augmented reality? Other recent Messenger updates made it easier for users to share rich media, such as 360-degree photos and HD-quality video, via Messenger.

Streamlining Messenger for customers

Messenger is also releasing a customer chat plug-in for Messenger that companies can integrate directly into their websites. The plug-in will automatically load recent chat histories between a customer and the company. This gives customer a single experience regardless of where they initiate (or continue) the conversation.

This is good news for companies who already use Messenger to engage with their customers, as well as for companies that don’t already use a customer chat feature but want to have one.

Translating for the Facebook Marketplace

As well, Messenger will launch M Suggestions to translate messages in the Facebook Marketplace. When people receive a message in a language that’s different from their default setting, M will ask if they want to translate the message. At launch, M suggestions will start with English/Spanish translation for users in the United States. As Facebook improves the translation experience, it plans to roll out the feature in more countries and in more languages. For online retailers, this opens the door to reach customers in places you haven’t yet ventured into.

The digital marketer’s essential takeaway: Online retailers can stand out from the competition by using new tools that give customers engaging, high-quality information.

Need-to-Know News About Instagram

More changes are also coming to Instagram, starting with updates to its explorer tool. Instagram is also diving deeper into video and testing the waters of augmented reality.

Instagram’s new explorer section will make it easier for users to discover content. The update, which builds on Instagram’s recent decision to let users follow hashtags, will organize information into topic channels you can scroll through. When you pause at a button, you’ll see a list of related hashtags to follow.

For digital marketers, this means Instagram users have more ways to find your content. For a refresher on how to get the most from your Instagram account, review our post on where to find real Instagram followers.

Instagram is also rolling out a video chat feature that will let you chat one-0n-one or in groups. And, new tools will make it easier to share content from other apps, such as GoPro and Spotify. Finally, Facebook is bringing its AR filters to Instagram.

The digital marketer’s essential takeaway: Instagram has become much more than a photo-sharing platform. Be sure to try all of Instagram’s features to keep your followers engaged.

Which Facebook F8 announcements are you most excited about? Tell us in the comments below!

]]>https://postcron.com/en/blog/need-to-know-news-from-facebook-f8-2018/feed/0Use These 5 LinkedIn Updates to Elevate Your Engagementhttps://postcron.com/en/blog/use-5-linkedin-updates-elevate-engagement/
https://postcron.com/en/blog/use-5-linkedin-updates-elevate-engagement/#respondSat, 28 Apr 2018 09:08:49 +0000https://postcron.com/en/blog/?p=6399Recent LinkedIn updates have made it easier for digital marketers to create high-quality content to engage their professional networks. With these changes, which LinkedIn started implementing in 2017, LinkedIn’s tools more closely match what you can do on other social platforms. Here we summarize five key LinkedIn updates you can start using to get the

Recent LinkedIn updates have made it easier for digital marketers to create high-quality content to engage their professional networks. With these changes, which LinkedIn started implementing in 2017, LinkedIn’s tools more closely match what you can do on other social platforms. Here we summarize five key LinkedIn updates you can start using to get the most from LinkedIn.

Use video for company pages and sponsored content

This LinkedIn update makes good sense. New marketing data suggestions that using video can increase conversions by up to 80%. To use LinkedIn native video, open the mobile app and look for the video icon in the right corner. You can either record something new or select an existing video from your camera roll to include in your posts.

With this LinkedIn update, you also gain access to detailed insights about who views your view. As described by LinkedIn, “after you post a video, you can see audience insights such as the top companies, titles and locations of your viewers, as well as how many views, likes, and comments your videos are receiving. With these insights, you can begin to understand if you’re reaching the people and companies that matter to you.” To find this information, go to the dashboard on your LinkedIn profile.

Add multiple photos to your LinkedIn posts

A July 2017 LinkedIn update introduced the ability to include multiple images in your LinkedIn posts. This will help digital marketers because ome research suggests that articles with images get up to 94% more views. Having multiple images in your posts can also increase engagement in the short and long-term because images help your audience remember your message, as described in this short video by Digital Splash Media.

This LinkedIn update is especially good news for anyone who shares longer posts. Images break up the text, which increases the odds that readers will read until the end. While there is no magic rule for how many photos you should include in a post, marketers like Neil Patel suggest using one image for every 350 words.

This doesn’t mean you should overload your posts with images. Each image should still serve a purpose that is directly related to your overall message, and you should always choose high-quality images that you have legal permission to use.

Share draft posts with team members

You can also now share your draft LinkedIn posts with team members within the platform. This feature is especially useful for marketing teams or small companies where more than one person is involved in developing and approving content.

To share your draft, click on the “more” button on the top right corner of your screen, and select “share draft,” as shown below. A pop-up box will generate a link that you can share with a team member to get their feedback.

If you don’t already have someone else review your LinkedIn posts, now is a great time to start. Having someone proofread your posts before you hit publish can help ensure that you catch any typos or other mistakes that could detract from the message you want to share.

Disable comments

Users now also have to ability to disable comments on posts. Even though engagement is the goal when using social networks, spam and harassment do happen. When something unfortunate occurs, it can quickly spiral out of control. Being able to turn off comments is a useful tool to mitigate difficult situations.

To turn off comments, scroll to the bottom of your post and click on the gear icon. A new box will open where you can select “disable comments,” as shown below.

Share your posts outside of the LinkedIn network

Finally, when you share links to LinkedIn posts, readers no longer have to log into LinkedIn to read them. This helps LinkedIn by attracting more readers to the platform, and it helps companies and digital marketers by making content more accessible to a broad audience. The best part? You don’t need to do anything special to take advantage of this Linked update—just keep sharing links to your LinkedIn content.